Stuttering
by Weightless
Summary: Fang is trying to tell Max how he feels, but it turns out to be harder than he thought. What happens when the Flock try to help him? What will Max do? FAX
1. Chapter 1

**AN: My first fanfic. Set after MAX. The Flock is living with Max's mom.**

**Oh, maybe I should tell you… there's a lot of stuff going on right now, so, um, updates may take a while. Just so you know.**

**And please I need a better title. I didn't have one, so I got it from a song. Sorry.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing's mine, except the plot, I think.**

_Voices in peoples' heads (Angel and The Voice)_

_People when addressing said voices in their minds_

**Max's POV**

It was peaceful. Yeah, you heard, _peaceful_. Which, of course, means someone is getting ready to capture or kill you in a few days. Or maybe that's just my life.

It has been a month since anything has actually happened. A month since we rescued my mom. Her body had healed well and quickly; only a few deeper cuts remained – on the outside. She was tortured horribly by some of Mr. Chu's underlings and she still has nightmares about those days. Sometimes I wonder if they'll ever end.

Other things had also changed after that little adventure of ours - specially my relationship with Fang. He was my best friend, but we had developed feelings for each other. Although we had kissed a couple of times before, we had only recently become boyfriend and girlfriend. I was thrilled and wanted to spend every second of my time with him, but we both knew we had to take things very slowly so as to give the Flock a chance to become comfortable with us being together.

"Hey," Fang said, lying next to me on the grass of mom's backyard. He had appeared so quietly and I had been so busy with my thoughts that I had not heard him coming. "Mind some company?"

I smiled. "Not at all."

For almost ten minutes we just lay there in silence, gazing at the stars. At some point, Fang put his arm around my shoulders and I snuggled closer to him. Peeking at his face, I realized that the moonlight outlined his features perfectly and saw that his dark eyes were fixed on mine, his face turned in my direction. He leaned closer, kissing me gently before pulling back and tenderly start stroking my face.

"Max," he whispered. "What would I do without you?"

"You'd live on, happily, and take responsibility for the Flock," I told him.

"No, I wouldn't. I'd break down. Max, I –"

Suddenly, Iggy, Ella, Nudge and Gazzy burst out of the house, interrupting what Fang would say. I gritted my teeth in frustration. Fang sighed. They were all cheering and teasing us while we sat up and glared at them.

"OMG, they're so cute and they were totally made for each other. Yeah, I think they were definitely meant to be. I mean, their children would be so cute with blonde hair and black wings, or black hair and brown wings, and we could teach them how to fly! It would be so like a movie, because they know each for, like, forever, and have always loved each other and so on!" Nudge gushed.

"Ugh, I could have lived without this. Ew," said Gazzy.

"Seems like some of us were having extra fun tonight," mocked Iggy.

"Shut up Iggy, they're so cute together. Just let them be," Ella said.

Iggy only smirked. "Nah, they're all gentle and softened up right now. I might wanna use that to my advantage."

Before Fang and I could even respond to that, Angel ran out. She looked almost as pissed as we were. Almost. "Why don't you listen to me? I _told_ you not to interrupt them! Fang was about to –" she cut off mid-sentence, then restarted, "Now, the whole moment's ruined! Do you know how difficult it is for them to have some alone time? Idiots!"

All of us gaped at her, even Fang. Angel never yelled at anyone, not when someone hurt her and/or tried to kill her, or even when she got into a fight with Gazzy. What was Fang going to say that was so important to her?

_You'll find out soon enough_, she answered.

_Angel, my thoughts are, well, mine, so stop listening in on them, _I scolded.

I sensed her leaving my head wordlessly.

"It's late, we should get some sleep. Everyone to their rooms, NOW," I ordered. Surprisingly, they obeyed without a single word of complaint.

Still angry about what had happened, I crept into my bed. We all had our own rooms in mom's new house. She had bought it so that the Flock and I could spend some time living there whenever we wanted, or needed, to. It was just the right size, not too big or too small, and had a yard behind it, where we could land and take off without being seen.

Life was as good as it ever gets – for me anyway.

**Fang's POV**

Max's mom's house is nice. I have my own room, so at least I get some privacy, even if it's when I'm asleep. It also gives me time to think. So I was making good use of my time, just thinking in my room. Thinking of Max, obviously. That's the only thing I think about lately, which is probably because I love her so much.

I had gotten so close to telling her. I knew I had to tell her one way or another, but this mushy crap isn't my forte, if you know what I mean. Now, I'll have to start all over again, and that's not easy. At all.

We never get a lot of alone time, because the Flock keeps coming in and interrupting us. Just like they did this time. The thought of it is enough to make me angry.

And what if I tell her, and she doesn't say it back? What if she doesn't like me this much? What if she runs away again?

_Fang, stop being stupid. She loves you too_, said a small voice in my head, Angel. Something's seriously wrong if a seven year old is calling you stupid. Then again, Angel's not a normal seven year old. I sighed.

_Angel, she loves everyone in the Flock._

_Yeah, but not like she loves you. She really loves you, Fang. And not like a brother. She's in love with you, just like you're in love with her._

_I really hope you're right, _I told her sincerely.

After I felt her presence leave my mind, I closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Max, her beautiful brown hair, her gorgeous chocolate brown eyes, the warm fuzzy feeling I get when she kisses me…

Almost an hour later, I finally dozed off, only to have sweet dreams of Max…


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you for everyone who is reading this story, and all of you that reviewed. Hope you like this chapter...**

**Max's POV**

Vaguely, I heard a door open and close. I ignored it completely, deciding to pretend to still be asleep so that I could actually try to rest some more, hoping whoever it was just left without bothering me. There were no other sounds for a while. Just as I was about to drift back into my dreamland, my bed moved. Wait, my bed _moved_?

I jumped up, startled, automatically crouching into a fighting stance, while searching for anything dangerous-looking. Someone chuckled. "You're too stressed," Fang said from where he sat on my bed.

"You sneaked up on me!" I accused.

"Just thought I'd wake you up. Everyone's already downstairs for breakfast."

I kissed his cheek, and said, "Thanks."

"Aren't you going to go eat?" he asked. I just looked at him. "Oh. Ok. I'll save some for you." He left my room so that I could change out of my PJs. I quickly pulled on faded jeans and a light blue polo shirt, and then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and try to comb my hair into less of a mess.

"Morning," I mumbled to no one in particular when I walked into the kitchen and slumped into a chair. "What's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes," said Fang. He put a plate with an enormous mound of pancakes on the table in front of me, and then sat next to me with his own pile of food.

I managed to thank him before digging into my breakfast.

"Max, what're we doing today? 'Cause I think we should totally go shopping. We could go out to eat at that place with all the huge portions of food, and those really good cakes that are, like, sooo big. Oh and I saw this very cute dress on the internet that would be, like, perfect on you. It was blue and strapless and it –"

"NUDGE! It's too early for this," I complained. "And we went shopping just the other day, so we're not going shopping again for at least a week. How about we stay here today and then we go out tomorrow?" I didn't think I needed to tell her that I would never wear that dress.

Nudge seemed slightly disappointed, but everyone agreed. We all rushed to the living room to watch TV. I was the last to get there, and I sat on the smaller couch next to Fang while the others were either fighting for space on the other couch or sprawled on the floor.

There was a movie on some channel about pirates and the world's end or something, which seemed OK, so we were watching that, trying to figure out how on Earth _pirates_ got mixed up with the end of the world. Well, I wasn't actually watching it – Fang had his arm around me, and that can be quite distracting.

Apparently Fang also wasn't in the mood to watch a movie, as not even five minutes later we were already kissing, deciding to completely ignore the movie. For once no one paid attention to us, so we could act almost like we were alone. Another ten minutes passed, and we were still kissing, but now I was lying on my back with Fang on top of me. I was worried about what the Flock thought of this, though they were still silent, so I knew that they hadn't seen it or were pretending like they didn't.

The Flock was caught up in the movie (and I was busy making out with Fang), so we didn't hear mom and Ella coming into the living room when they arrived from work and school. That is, until mom cleared her throat loudly.

Fang and I sprang apart immediately, both of us looking down. My face heated up and his face was more different shades of red than I could count. The Flock finally recovered from their trance, and, when they realized what had happened, burst out laughing.

"I wish I could see their expressions right now," said Iggy between laughs. He stopped laughing for a second, with a look that clearly meant Angel was sending him thoughts (or images, in this case), and then laughed even harder. "Thanks Angel."

I groaned and flew off to get away from all of the embarrassment.

**Fang's POV**

After Max left for a flight, I went to my room to avoid the jokes Iggy was sure to be making.

I was surprised when I heard a hesitant knock on my door and Dr M came in.

"Can I talk to you, Fang?"

"Sure," I said, slightly anxious. Really, how was I supposed to feel if my girlfriend's mom came to talk to me after she just caught us making out?

She sat on the chair in front of me and just watched me for a minute as I fidgeted nervously.

"You really love her, don't you?" she asked softly. Wow, that was blunt. And definitely not what I was expecting.

"Yeah, I do," I told her sincerely.

"Have you told her?"

I sighed. "No. Not yet. I'm trying to, but it's harder than I thought. I will tell her, though. Soon."

"It's going to work out. You'll see," she said, and then went to the kitchen to fix dinner.

I got my computer and opened up iTunes. I was listening to this playlist I made for Max (not that she knows about it), when something flew in through my window.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry this took so long, it was my last week of school before the winter holidays (It's winter here in Brazil). I'll post faster now, I promise.**

**Thank you all my wonderful reviewers I really appreciate your reviews, keep it up!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, bla, bla, bla, you get it. I also don't own the song, My Beautiful Rescue, This Providence does.**

**Here goes nothing.**

**Fang's POV**

As soon as Max flew in, I paused the song and closed my laptop, hurriedly putting it on my nightstand. She said nothing so I took it she hadn't seen it.

We sat next to each other in comfortable silence for a while, her head resting on my shoulder and my arm around her.

"So, what are you hiding from me on your laptop?" she asked, not looking at me. Oh, so she noticed it. Crap.

"Uh, nothing. Just listening to music, that's all."

"If you were doing that, then _why_ don't you want me to see it?" she challenged, her eyes fixed on mine. Oh crap. I really didn't want her to see that playlist; it was embarrassing and very mushy, and I have a reputation to maintain. And I didn't want my pride shattered, by the way.

I put on my best innocent face and tried to sound hurt. "Don't you trust me, Max?"

It worked – her face softened considerably. I knew Max was a sucker for guilt trips; the younger kids always used that to get whatever they wanted.

"Don't think for a second that I'm going to forget this, 'cause I won't," she warned. She stood up to leave the room, but I grabbed her waist and pulled her down onto my lap.

"Max, just let it drop," I said. I leaned down and kissed her.

"Fine, I will," she whispered against my lips. "For now."

"You're too stubborn," I complained, making her giggle. God, she was adorable. I kissed her again.

We'd been kissing for some time, Max was still on my lap and we were still on my bed, when suddenly this really loud music starts playing. Don't get me wrong, the music was good, but it was deafeningly loud, and it sounded like it was coming from right outside my door.

_I've been jumping from the tops of buildings._

_For the thrill of the fall._

_Ignoring sound advice._

_And any thought of consequence._

_My bones are shattered._

_My pride is shattered._

_And in the midst of this self-inflicted pain._

_I can see my beautiful rescue._

I stood up, placing Max gently on the bed, and went to see what the heck the others were doing this time, and why in the world they were listening to music this loud.

_I'm falling more in love._

_With every single word I withhold._

_I'm falling more in love._

_With every single word you say._

_I'm falling head-over-heels for you._

When I opened the door to my room, five kids and a dog crashed to the floor where I would have been if I hadn't taken a quick step back. Behind them there was a stereo system blaring out the music through its speakers. While they still tried to untangle themselves on the floor, I stepped over them and turned the music off.

Max glared at them, waiting for their explanation. When no one volunteered one, she asked in a dangerously calm voice, "What were you doing?"

Gazzy gulped nervously, Nudge bit her lip trying to keep quiet, Total ran into Angel's arms while she shrank next to her brother, and Iggy took a careful step back, positioning Ella behind him protectively. No one spoke. Smart kids.

"What is this doing here?" I asked gesturing to the stereo.

They exchanged scared looks. "Sorry Max, sorry Fang! We just wanted to help! We thought you would like the music! We wanted to make up for when we interrupted you yesterday, so we found this really good song that's, like, perfect for you guys, and we thought that maybe with the song Fang would do it, but then we ruined it again and I'm so, so sorry and –" Thank goodness Gazzy put his hand on Nudge's mouth then, 'cause my ears were bleeding.

"Fang would do what?" questioned Max, confused.

"Nothing, Max," said Angel in her sweet little voice. "We were just messing around."

Max narrowed her eyes at me; I shrugged in an 'I-have-no-idea-what-they're-going-on-about' way.

"Whatever. There's something up and I'm going to find out what it is sooner or later," she warned, and then walked off to her room.

"That was close," said Ella.

"Too close," I said. "Don't let it happen again."

**Max's POV**

They were planning something. I knew they were. I just didn't know what it was.

Not only were they plotting behind my back, but also Fang was in on it. He was acting so weird lately, first when he was going to say something that made Angel get pissed when he didn't, then hiding things from me on his laptop, and now this stuff about him doing something. Gosh, this is so confusing!

I needed my own plan to find out about their plan, if that even makes sense. Problem is, none of them will help me with it, 'cause they're all in on it.

Argh, I hate it when I'm the only one that has no clue what's going on. It makes me feel stupid. Unless… What if I'm not the only one?

With renewed hope, I ran to my mom's room. "Hey mom, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure sweetie. What's going on?"

I sighed and sat next to her on the bed. "That's the problem. I don't know. I feel like everyone is scheming behind my back and I'm the only one that doesn't know what they're doing."

"Have you tried just asking them about it?"

"Yeah, it doesn't work. Even Fang doesn't want to tell me. And he's acting different lately, like he's keeping something from me. Today Nudge mentioned him doing something, but I have no idea what that means."

Mom looked like she finally understood what was going on, and whatever it was pleased her. Oh God, not her too! She smiled. "Did you ever think that it might be better to wait until one of them tells you what's going on?"

"No. Not really. Come on, tell me what it is. I know that you know, Mom, spit it out."

"Sorry Max, I can't. It's not my place to tell you. Be patient and you'll find out eventually. I promise it will be worth the wait."

"Fine. I'll _try_. But I hate this." I said, and then stomped back to my room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay new chapter up! Sorry it took so long again, I really did try to post it before but I couldn't get it done.**

**Thank you everyone reading this, specially if you reviewed or favorited or put the story on alert!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, yet, but I'm coming up with an evil plan to get it from JP. I only need either a few billion dollars or some kind of mind controlling machine thingy. It's that simple. **

**Oh and the song's not mine too. I had to put it in here, cause I'm addicted to All Time Low's new album, and the song reminds me of Max. It's called Walls and it's awesome. Seriously, if you haven't heard it, you should.**

**ON with the chapter!**

**Max's POV**

I was walking down the hallway to my room when I saw it, sleek and black on his bed. It was lying there in Fang's room, inviting me to come in and get it. Don't ask me how, it just _was_. And I was _so_ tempted to do it.

Imagine having full access to Fang's deepest secrets, hidden away somewhere in the vast memory of its hardware. Being able to finally find out what he was hiding from me. It was all there, a few steps away from me, beckoning for me to give in to temptation.

It was all there, in Fang's laptop.

Better yet, Fang was nowhere to be seen.

But what if he caught me snooping through his stuff? He would probably be really mad at me, and not speak to me for days. I didn't want to have a fight with him already – we had only just gotten together. And what if I don't like what I find, and regret ever seeing it?

I was in the middle of this mental argument with myself (yes, I do need to say that the mental argument is with myself, because honestly in my case it usually isn't), when a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist. Fang. There goes the best chance I ever had to discover any of his secrets.

"Max, why are you standing in the hallway looking into my room?"

"Um, you see, uh, I was… I was, um…" I stuttered, trying to come up with a good excuse.

"You were…?" Fang prompted.

"Max can you come here, please? I have something to show you," called Angel from her room a few doors down. Wow, saved by the mind reader. I'll have to find a way to thank her later.

"Uh, I'll go see what see wants," I muttered quickly before I all but ran to her room.

Angel was bent over the stereo thingy, probably setting it up. "You owe me," she stated, with a mischievous grin on her face. Uh-oh. Angel may be the sweetest kid in the world, but we all know she can also be a creepy little devil.

"Don't worry Max, it isn't anything _bad_," she said, reading my thoughts. "Anyway, I was listening to that new CD that Fang bought and there's this song that reminded me of you. Just the chorus, though, but it's totally how you feel."

"Oh. Alright then, let me listen to it."

She put the CD into the player and skipped the first few songs, till she reached number eight. The song had a short introduction and then the guy started singing. "Wait and listen to the chorus, Max," said Angel. I did what she told me to, and realized it was a really good song. Then there was the chorus.

_I'm gonna break down these walls I built around myself,_

_I wanna fall so in love with you and no one else_

_Could ever mean half as much to me as you do now._

_Together we'll move on, just don't turn around._

_Let the walls break down._

It truly did remind me of how I felt. I had built walls around my heart to try to not fall in love with Fang, to try to keep him out and hide my feelings. The walls had crumbled when Fang kissed me in the desert when we were at the Day and Night school. Now, I was desperately in love with him, and I knew it would always be this way. I was glad that my walls were gone.

"Good thing they're gone too, 'cause you and Fang are soul mates," piped in Angel, obviously having heard my thoughts. "Took you long enough, though. But you're together now, so that's OK."

"It didn't take _that_ long!" I exclaimed, outraged.

"Max," she said solemnly. "It took you at least four_ years_. That's almost all my life."

Well, when she put it that way…

"You should go now. Fang's in his room, and he wants to talk to you. In fact, he's been trying to tell you something for some time already. Maybe you should go for a walk with him, you know, to see if he tells you. Unless you want him to know what you were thinking of doing with his laptop… and it would be a good way to thank me for earlier…"

"You're _blackmailing_ me?! Seriously? And just so I go on a walk with Fang?" I asked skeptically.

"Fang only needs a little push, and then he'll _finally_ blurt it out," she said. "So, I'm going to give this little push, and hope he does it during the walk."

"Whatever. I'll go out with him. We could use some alone time anyway," I said.

I left her room and walked straight to Fang's room, knocking quietly on the door before coming in without waiting for an answer. He was typing away on his laptop, updating his blog.

"Wanna go out for a walk?" I asked.

"Sure," he replied, closing his laptop and grabbing my hand, leading me out of the room.

"Me and Fang are going out for a bit," I told the Flock, Ella and my mom, who were all in the living room watching TV.

"Come back on time for dinner," said mom.

I nodded. "We will."

"Don't do anything naughty," added Iggy. I whacked him on the head. "Fine then, if you must, but use protection!" I smacked his head again and Fang punched his arm.

"Sexist pig," I muttered as Fang dragged me away from him.

Hand in hand, we stepped outside into the cool night air.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I know it took me ages to post this, and I'm sorry. I really am. But my mom's traveling and I'm staying at my dad's, so I try to spend as much time as possible going out and I don't always have access to a computer. Also, one of my best friends had the swine flu (or whatever it's called now) and was getting lonely at home, so he'd keep calling me. Then he got better, and first thing he did when he went out was to break his leg playing soccer. Tough luck.**

**Btw, I'm going to Chicago on Friday and I don't know if I'll be able to post from there, so I'll _try_ to post something before then. Key word being try.**

**Disclaimer: I have now decided to kidnap Angel and use her creepy powers to make JP give me MR. Thank you WingedJay13 for this brilliant idea.**

**Max's POV**

Fang led me in comfortable silence towards the park near Mom's house. Not even ten minutes later, we were already there, sitting next to each other still holding hands on a bench close to a pond. It was a perfect night out, complete with a full moon and all.

"It's beautiful," I whispered, slightly awed.

"Not nearly as much as you are," Fang said. He placed a hand on the back of my neck, pulling me closer, then kissed me gently. I kissed him back, lightly wrapping my arms around his neck, while he put his other hand on my waist.

He pulled back after a couple of minutes, eyes locked on mine. "Max," he began, but his other words were cut off. No, we weren't interrupted or anything. What happened was that, even though his lips were moving, no sound was coming out.

"What were you saying?" I tried to ask, but no sound came out of my lips.

Looking around for anything unusual, I realized everything was silent. There was absolutely no sound whatsoever, not even the low rush of our breathing. Weird.

Bothered by the quiet, I picked up a stone and threw it into the pond. Nothing. Not even a splash. Ok, so this is new. And creepy, _very _creepy.

I turned back to Fang, who had a puzzled expression on his face. _What the hell is going on?_

_Fang has a new power,_ said the Voice, being useful for once. _He can control sound._

My jaw dropped. He can control _sound_?

_Yes, Maximum, that is what I said._

_I know, _I thought back angrily, _I was shocked, that's all. You can leave now._

It didn't respond.

Meanwhile, Fang was looking at me expectantly. He must've noticed me talking to the Voice and wanted an explanation.

"You've got a new power," I mouthed to him, hoping he would understand. He did, and frowned.

Suddenly, the sound came back – the chirping of the insects, our breathing and the distant noise of cars and people on the streets. After the utter silence, the smallest noise seemed loud.

"How did you _do_ that?" I demanded, not even attempting to hide my curiosity.

"It's kind of like flipping a switch," he explained, shrugging.

"Can you only turn it on and off, or can you shut off some things and keep the rest on?"

"Don't know, let me try."

He concentrated for a minute, and then everything went silent again. "Can you hear me?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I let us both on, but turned the rest off."

"Come on, let's go back home and show the Flock what you can do. Maybe we can try out some other things with it too," I said, standing and all but running back to the house with Fang hot on my heels.

As soon as we entered the living room, the Flock, mom and Ella stopped whatever they were doing to stare at us. "How was it?" asked Iggy.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fang barely shake his head, and everyone's previously excited faces became instantly disappointed. Huh, wonder what that's about.

"Fang's got a new power," I announced cheerfully, and everyone immediately bombarded us with questions, making it impossible to distinguish what they were saying. I glanced at Fang, who nodded to show he understood, and then used his new power to make them all shut up.

"He can control sound," I continued, and he smirked. "Ok, so, Fang, you can let them talk again, but please guys, only one at a time."

"How does it work?" asked Gazzy.

"Like a switch. It turns on and off. Don't know what else," replied Fang.

Of course we decided to try out every possibility right then. Apparently, he can choose what is switched on and off, and who can hear what. For example, if he wants to, he can make it so that we are able to hear everything, while others can't hear us. Very useful power if you live with Nudge.

"So you could, like, lock yourselves in a room, and do whatever you want without anyone hearing it?" asked Iggy.

"Yeah, I guess," I said, not knowing where he was going with this.

He grinned mischievously. "I bet you and Fang will be making good use of this new power, then."

I thumped him on the back of his head. "Sexist pig! We do not, and will not, do that! Get your mind out of the gutter."

"You don't do what, Max?" questioned Angel, innocently.

"Uh, nothing, sweetie. It doesn't matter 'cause we don't do it anyway. Iggy's being a pig."

She nodded, but mom narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Oh man, now she thinks we're having sex. Great.

"It's late, we'd better go to sleep," I said before things could get any worse. We stacked and tapped, then headed to each of our rooms. I lay down on my bed after changing into my PJs, and a couple of minutes later someone knocked on my door. "Come in."

Mom walked in. She sat next to me on my bed. "Max, about what Iggy was implying earlier… You and Fang… You don't do _that_, do you?"

"What?!" I shrieked, bolting upright. "Mom, _no_! That's not how things are between us!"

"Ok then. But if it happened, would you talk to me about it?"

"I guess… I don't really know, mom. I haven't thought about it."

"Oh. I want you to know that if you ever need _anything_, whether it's advice or someone to talk to, you can always come to me. Goodnight, Max," she said, looking and sounding very relieved.

"Night mom," I said as she left my room.

_That was one awkward conversation_, I thought drowsily before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

**AN: I know everyone wanted Fang to just tell her, but I really wanted to do this. Please don't kill me! Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I'M ALIVE! Yup, I'm alive. And I'm sooo so sorry for not updating in ages. You probably hate me right now. I swear I have some pretty good excuses for this, it wasn't only my laziness. But you probably don't care and don't wanna hear them all, soooooo.... on with the chapter! I hope it makes up for me disappearing on you guys.**

**Disclaimer: My iPod: $200. My laptop: $1299. Rights for Maximum Ride: many, many millions of dollars. Sadly, they're not mine to sell.**

**Max's POV**

"Good morning guys."

A bunch of mumbled responses. Nudge only smiled.

"What do you wanna do today?"

Angel, Gazzy and Iggy all started talking at once. Fang gave me a look that said 'whatever you are doing', and Nudge _shrugged_.

"Nudge what do you want to do?"

She shrugged again. I couldn't believe it. Not a word about going shopping, or any gushing over clothes and make-up and shoes. Was the world ending or something?

"Nudge, sweetie, is something wrong?"

Instead of answering my question, she glared at Fang. Huh.

I sighed. "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing."

"He's using his new power on Nudge. She hasn't been able to say a word for… like, ten hours," said Angel.

"You _what_?" I glared at Fang.

"She wouldn't shut up. So I did it for her," he reasoned.

"For _ten_ freaking _hours_?"

"Yeah," he said, shrugging like it was no big deal.

"Fang! Let her talk!"

"Fine. But you brought it on yourself."

What the hell is he _thinking_? Actually, he probably _isn't_ thinking. Abusing his powers like that – it was about as bad as Angel mind controlling the whole of the population of New York City to, say, perform a huge rendition of Swan Lake. Okay, maybe not that bad, but the same as Angel brainwashing me to shop for a day. And we all know how well that goes down with me.

_That's not a bad idea, Max. We could also give you a makeover while we're at it._

_Angel, how many times have I told you not to do this kind of thing?_

_Do you mean controlling people or reading your mind?_

_Both._

_Oh. I have no idea. But it's not fair! Fang can use his power to control people and I can't use mine!_

_Fang _can't _use his power like that. Which is exactly why I'm mad at him right now._

I was about to tell her to get out of my head, but our little mental conversation was interrupted by the Nudge Channel.

"Oh my god! I can, like, _speak_ now, with sound and everything, and I can finally tell you guys how much I want to go shopping 'cause we _totally_ need to buy new clothes. Oh, and then we could get new haircuts and maybe I'd get my nails done in that really cute pink like that girl on TV, you know, the one that–"

"Nudge, I know how happy you are that you can talk again, but _please_ don't make me regret telling Fang to let you speak."

"I'm sorry Max, it's just that–"

"It's _fine_, Nudge, _really_," I cut her off before she started rambling again. "As for shopping, I don't think we need to and I don't want to spend too much of Mom's money. But if you want to go so bad, you can ask Mom to take you. Maybe you could wait for Ella to come home form school so she'll go with you."

"Oh Max! Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" And with that, Angel and Nudge ran off to find Mom.

I sighed. "I'll be in my room."

* * *

I'd been in my room for almost half an hour when I heard a quiet knock on my door. "Max," Fang called, "open up."

Ugh, not _him_. I was still very pissed at him for that thing with Nudge, and I'd been trying to avoid this conversation for as long as possible.

"Come on, Max. Won't you at least let me try to apologize?"

Reluctantly, I got off my bed and unlocked my door for him. It won't hurt to let him try. Besides, it's a win-win situation. Either he says something reasonable and we can then proceed to making-out in my room, or he has to do everything I want to try to get back on my good side. See, sometimes even my life can be awesome.

I flopped back down on my bed. "It's open."

He turned the knob slowly, as if expecting the door to still be locked. After closing the door gently behind him, he cautiously sat next to me on my bed. It was sort of like he was expecting me to blow out on him, and it was really funny to watch.

"Look Max, I'm sorry," he started. "I shouldn't have done that."

"I know. But you did it anyway," I said, not looking at him.

"I didn't mean to keep it on her for that long. I sort of forgot to remove it."

"And I'm sort of forgetting to forgive you."

"Please, Max. I won't ever do it again, I promise."

For some reason, that made me even angrier with him. "So? What's done is done, Fang, and nothing you say is changing that. I really don't feel like listening to your excuses right now, so, please, get out."

"Max… just listen to me. Please."

At this point, I was yelling at him. "No, Fang. Right now, I don't care what you want to say. Now, get out of my room."

I still wouldn't look at him, but I felt the weight on the other side of my bed disappear. "If that's what you want," he said, his voice so soft it was almost a whisper.

"Why do you even _care_?" I screamed at him. I stood up, so that I was almost face-to-face with him. "You just do whatever you want when you feel like it!"

"Why do I care?" he yelled right back at me. "Because I freaking _love_ you, Max, that's why!"

"Did you expect me to forget everything you did, just because you said that? It doesn't make it any better! I don't–" I shouted at him, but then stopped abruptly when what he said finally sank in. After a few seconds of silence, I whispered, "_What_ did you say?"

"I-I… s-said… that, uh, I-I, you know… I-I-I… I…" he stuttered.

He took a deep breath, and then looked me in the eyes and said in a firm voice, loaded with emotion, "I love you, Max."

A couple of minutes ago, we were almost ripping each other's throats, and now we were declaring our love. I couldn't help it, as soon as he said those words, I wasn't even slightly mad at him anymore and I completely forgot about our argument. I was just so intensely _happy_ that I couldn't think about anything else. The world could be ending right now, but all that mattered was that Fang had just said he _loved_ me.

Fang. He was looking at me expectantly and a bit uncomfortably, gauging my reaction. Oops, I still hadn't said it back. I smiled. "I love you too, Fang."

When he kissed me, all I could think of was how I was the luckiest person in the whole world. I knew that no matter what, I'd always be able to count on him, because he would always be by my side.

_Click_. I barely heard it (it's amazing how I still get in some sort of trance when Fang kisses me), but I was pretty sure that it was that annoying sound of a camera taking a picture. Then I heard giggles, and what sounded like people slapping high-fives. Way to ruin the moment, guys.

I pulled back from Fang, glaring daggers at Angel, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Ella, Total and even Mom, who were all standing in the doorway grinning at us. Fang moved so that he was behind me with his arms around my waist. For some reason, it seemed like his arms had the double purpose of keeping me close to him and restraining me from slicing the others' heads off.

"We could hear you in the kitchen," Angel explained hurriedly, listening to my slightly (but only slightly) murderous thoughts directed at them.

"I think we'd better leave now," muttered Mom. "Give them a little privacy." They didn't need her to say it twice – before I even knew it, there were out of my room and the door was closed behind them.

"So, where were we?"

**AN: Sooo... this was the last chapter, what did you think of it?**

**Oh... and I really can't resist... it just fits sooo perfectly... in that part where Max is thinking about Fang telling her that he loves her... please insert these lyrics for the best song ever:**

**_Tell me that you love me,  
And it'll be alright  
Are you thinking of me?  
Just come with me tonight  
You know I need you,  
Just like you need me  
Can't Stop, Won't Stop, I Must Be Dreaming _**


End file.
